The Dark Kingdom
"The Dark Kingdom" was an event in Kingdom of Han that ran from August 2nd, 2015 until August 9th, 2015 that introduced a great evil to the Han empire by the name of Tsu-Gua. This event was used as an introduction to the eight subpaths currently available to players that are level 50 or higher. In the event, players crossed through purple portals that popped up around the Imperial City of Han to travel to the Dark Kingdom – an alternate version of Han inhabited my shadowy monstrosities – in search for stones to deliver to their guildmasters. Once collected, players could turn in one hundred of the stones to their guildmaster to join one of the subpaths of their choosing. Event Background "Please... Spare me!" The villager choked out. The sinister presence let out a coy laugh, tightening his grip around the villager's neck. "And why should I pity you over anyone else?" he asked. The villager cried out, his last breath expelled from his lungs in a frantic plea for the sake of his family. "I have.. Chi-..Children." the poor man pleaded. "What a shame." A guttural noise remained trapped within the villager's throat as the dark presence applied even more pressure, crushing the man's larynx into his own spinal cord. With a swift motion of his hand, the now lifeless body was tossed to the side like a rag doll, joining the alarming mass of bodies that had already lay strewn about the kingdom. A frail woman screamed in horror, running to the aid of her now deceased husband. She cradled his battered corpse into her arms. Her face became drenched in rivers of salt as she rocked him back and forth. "What are you!? Who are you!? You monster!" She screamed, choking back on her own tears. A wicked smile crept onto the face of the dark presence. He approached the grieving woman with ease, kneeling beside her. He lifted his pale, gaunt hand to the woman's head and gently whispered into her ear. "Tsu-Gua," he replied, "Darkness Incarnate." She quickly smacked away Tsu-Gua's hand, dropping her husband's body to the ground. "Oh come now, there is no need for such hostility." he spoke. "LEAVE US!" she cried out, "Your dark sorcery is not welcome in these lands! The Empress shall have your head!" Tsu-Gua took his hand towards the pitch-black skies, conjuring forth a tremendous amount of energy. Streaks of lightning stretched across the horizon as he continued together his powers, cultivating a mass of dark energy into his possession. He approached the helpless woman, now wielding a mighty blade in his hands. "Bow to me." he demanded. "I'd devour a thousand rotwither before I bowed to the likes of you." she retorted, spitting to the ground. "So be it." he replied. With his blade raised, the hollowed sockets within his skeletal face resonated, gleaming his golden eyes down upon the helpless woman. He swung down upon her, casting her body into blackened stone. "Han is under attack!" A soldier screamed. "To arms!" "Bolster the defenses! Close the kingdom gates and protect the empress at all costs!" A wall of soldiers formed in the nearby distance readied for an impending attack. Tsu-Gua snickered and marched his way directly to the men. "Fools, the lot of you!" he exclaimed. "So long as I draw power from the totems, your strength is incapable of surpassing my own!" "CHARGE!!!"" In a full on assault, the army went forth into battle with the mighty dark sorcrer. One by one the soldiers perished in the heat of battle, falling to the dark magics of Tsu-Gua. "You will all perish!" Tsu-Gua said, cackling. Meanwhile, the empire's Shaman became baringly overwhelmed with the alarming number of lost souls arriving at her doorsteps. "Please, you must save me!" A wandering soul begged to the shaman. The shaman ran around frantically, tossing various potions and scrolls from the shelves. Souls continued to pour into the room, pleading to be reunited with their bodies. "It's not working!" the shaman exclaimed, smashing a potion onto the ground by accident. "No matter what I do, my own magic cannot save you! Why is it that your soul is not returning to your body?!" "Our bodies. . ." one of the ghosts whimpered, "Have... been turned.. to stone..." The shaman stopped in her tracks, turning to the ghost. "Your bodies have been turned into.. WHAT?!" she shouted. "The Dark Sorcerer has encased our bodies into dark stone!" The Shaman scurried over to a nearby tombstone. With a little bit of strength, she pried open the lid and retrieved an old weapon and a vial of discolored, murky liquid. "What are you doing?" one of the spirits asked. "Saving this empire from certain doom." she replied. The Shaman generously lathered her weapon with the murky liquid, rubbing every drop into the sockets of her skull staff. After a little bit of polishing, she lifted the staff into the air to inspect it further. "This will do." she said. Tsu-Gua remained on the battlefield, basking in the blood of the fallen soldiers. The dark sorcerer spared not even a single soul, sending children to their demise. Baleful laughter bounced off of the Kingdom walls and entered the homes of terrified city folk. "You shall all meet certain death!" Tsu-Gua cried out, blasting bolts of dark energy in every direction. Soldiers looked onwards, mortified as they witnessed pools of dark matter creep from the earth. Men that became entangled in the webs of darkness eventually collapsed to the ground, their bodies forming into hideous amalgamations of dark stone. "Tsu-Gua!" The Shaman yelled. Tsu-Gua turned his attention towards the calling of his name. "Yes, deary?" He called out while still lashing out bouts of dark spells onto the crowds of soldiers. "Face me!" she demanded. Tsu-gua laughed, sauntering his way over to the shaman. "A woman, wishes to challenge me? You will simply fall like the rest." he said, bestowing a hideous grin. The Shaman withdrew her skull staff and waved it to and fro. "Guess again." she said, giving him a wink. The grin on Tsu-Gua's face immediately retreated. His eyebrows narrowed and his nose crinkled. The potent scent of the staff stifled the air, causing Tsu-Gua to struggle with breathing. "You wouldn't... dare!" he snarled, pointing his blade to the shaman. "Oh, I would.. And oh, I am." she replied. "You would send ME to the dark plane!?" he snapped. "I AM THE EMBODIMENT OF DARKNESS, FOOL!" "I banish thee, Tsu-Gua, to an eternity of everlasting darkness!" the shaman cried out, charging at Tsu-Gua. In an epic clash of, a massive blast of powerful energy rippled from where the two met, decimating the nearby land. Gales of wind lashed out across the entire empire of Han, sending debris flying in every direction possible. The onlookers shielded their vision from sight, as the brightness was nearly too much to bear. Eventually the winds came to an abrupt halt, and the blinding light also soon faded from sight. The shaman fell to knees, weakened from the ordeal. Tsu-Gua was nowhere to be found. "Are you alright?!" A soldier asked. The soldier grabbed her arm and wrapped it over his shoulder-span, carrying her away to safety. "I will be fine..." she replied in paused breaths. "It is not over." she spoke. "But Tsu-Gua is gone!" he cheered. "TSU-GUA IS GONE!" he yelled to the soldiers. "HUZZAH!" The soldiers cheered, raising their weapons in victory. "He is not gone!" the Shaman quickly replied. "What do you mean? You defeated him!" "I did not... I simply sent him away. And he will be back soon if you do not heed my warning." The Shaman propped herself up on a nearby rock, pointing to the site of impact. "Watch." The soldiers sat in silence, waiting nervously. A small bout of wind picked up, causing a whistle to stream through the air. Slowly, a minor mass of darkness started to form. As it grew in size, the speed of this dark ball of energy started to toil and churn, eventually exposing a massive dark portal. "He is trying to return." the shaman said, exasperated. "What did you do!?" The soldier asked. "I did what was necessary. I banished him into the dark plane, where no mortal should dare tread. It was the only choice I had to buy us some time." "Some time!?" The soldier shouted at her. "He's going to come back and his strength will be tenfold of what it is now! You have doomed us all!" " SILENCE!" She screeched. "Soon..." she said, clutching onto her staff for support, "Soon.. We will have to head into the portal and defeat him once and for all." "Tsu-Gua must fall." ... to be continued. Event Rewards As well as providing a way to introduce the eight subpaths, the event also introduced a handful of equipment. The first item to be released during the event were four necklaces (one for each path) that could be crafted by players through the creation system. The necklaces could be crafted by any player with the proper item combination, but are bound to the class that the totem represents (i.e. a Baekho necklace can only be used by a Rogue). After a few days, Tsu-Gua's strength increased and he summoned new shadow monsters for players to fight for the duration of the event. These monsters dropped a new weapon, the Twisted Blade, that randomly casts a vitality attack when swung. The final days of the event pitted players against Tsu-Gua himself, who not only awarded a legend mark ("Defend the Empire against the Dark Sorcerer"), but also dropped an item called Dark Matter. This item could be taken to the Han jeweler along with a handful of stones for each totem to create the Dark Matter Ring, the strongest hand item available at the time of the event. Only one could be crafted per character. 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